HELP PLEASE

[pancho_fp 0]

hello!! here is the thing, i´m a paratrooper of the argentinean army working for the United Nations in Haiti and i´m having hollydays in april and may.
i´m going to go to miami and orlando with four friends to buy some gear, so, does anyone knwos where can we go??
2 of us are new in this, so what gear do you recomend?
What dz do you suggest to go?
Thanks a lot
Sorry for my english...

[Divinfool 0]

Deland is 45 minutes away...AFF and training there.....lots of places to purchase gear there...too ChutingStar, Skydive Deland, PD, Aerodyne etc etc etc come to mind. I'd call ahead and have the gear ready when you get here. Just my 2 cents.

Fear is the thief of dreams.....

[davelepka 4]

If you're looking to get into sport skydiving, the training and the gear will be different than military stuff you're used to.

Anywhere in the US you go to train, they will provide you with gear and will not let you jump your own until you have a license. You might want to start your training on your first holiday, and look into gear then. You could buy used gear, or new gear off the rack, and it would be ready for you on your second trip. Custom gear will take closer to 2 or 3 months to be built.

If you're going to be in Orlando, you can go west to Z-hills, or east to Deland. Both are great DZ, both are about an hour from Orlando, and both have gear stores on the DZ where you can look into buying gear.

Shoot them both an email, and see what they say. Let them know there's two of you who both want to get a license and buy gear, and see what sort of deals they can offer you.

Good luck, if you like the military jumps, you'll love the sport jumps, and should have no problem with the training.

[spikes2020 0]

He was talking about chutingstar here is the link =)

http://www.chutingstar.com/

Here is the drop zone info

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/dropzone/finder.cgi?search=addr&lat=28.545925723233477&lng=-81.3812255859375&rad=50

Cheers

Jon W

[pancho_fp 0]

Thanks! we want to buy some used gear.
By the way, 2 of us, have their licens and all stuff, the other 2 must do the training in the army when we return to Argentina, after the mission, so only 2 want to jump.
what kind of cannopy do you reccomend?
Spikes, i saw all the dz you send me, they r all similar?
in chutingstar all the gear is new, so i´m not interested in that, thanks

[BIGUN 1,450]

Hey Pancho,

Please contact them for used gear as it can be difficult to stay up on the website with the amount of used gear turn over. I think they went to putting just all new gear on the site and would leave used gear to emails and phone calls.

Feel free to email Mike or you can send him a PM on this site. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?username=chutingstar;

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[davelepka 4]

Quote

2 of us, have their licens and all stuff, the other 2 must do the training in the army when we return to Argentina, after the mission, so only 2 want to jump

I would suggest you call ahead to the DZ, and make sure that your military training will be accpeted at the DZ. I know that most US military training is NOT accepted at DZ, and they require soldiers to go through some additional training.

In terms of used gear, the gear store on most DZs will deal in new and used gear. One of the problems with used gear is that what's available one month isn't the same stuff you can get the next month, so a big part of what's available has to do with when you're there. One thing you can do is put in a 'order' for used gear, and the store can help you locate and assemble the rig for you. Again, do this on your first visit, and the rig should be ready for you by the time you return.

Just keep in mind that between the training you may or may not need, and trynig to find used gear, there are no 'standard' answers to your questions. The answers will all depend on the DZ you jump at, and the gear dealer you're working with, so make it a point to contact them directly to see what they have to say about your exact situation.

Given that your situation isn't 'normal', I would stringly suggest that you NOT just show up at a DZ without calling ahead. You might find yourself not being able to jump because either you are not ready for what they need, or they are not ready for what you need.

[Skydivesg 7]

If you are near Orlando druing the first week of April go to Deland for the Skydive Expo. www.skydiveexpo.com

Most of the gear manufacturers will be there with demo equipment. You may not have enough jumps to actually try the gear but you can attend the expo and the seminars.

Very educational and you get to talk to the people who know the gear better than anyone.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

[pancho_fp 0]

it´s a shame, but i´ll be there after april 16th...
Dave, in Arg we do 3 kinds of training, the military, the freefal and tactical skydiving (HALO, HALO, etc)... when we finish the 1st one we got a military aptitud and license, but when we finish the other two we have to seat for military and civil exams, so we get the 2 licenses...
2 of as have only the 1st training, the other 2 the 3rd kind, so they have both licenses... i think they´ll have no problems at the dzs...
thanks!

[Skydivesg 7]

As others have advised up thread - call the DZs first and explain everything to them before just dropping in to see them.

It could save you guys some big frustrations.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.